EDITORIAL: Saturday's Austin Peay-UT game a historic milestone

At 5 p.m. CST on Saturday, history will be made in the college football-crazed state of Tennessee, especially if you are a Clarksvillian who has long followed the Austin Peay State University Governors or the University of Tennessee Volunteers - or both teams - and that includes a whole lot of folks.

Red and white will clash with orange and white inside the gigantic confines of UT's Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, and no matter who wins Saturday's season-opening game, this is a big moment. This is the first time ever that the Govs and Vols will have played each other in football, although the two schools already compete against each other from time to time in other collegiate sports.

One could argue that it's going to be an especially big day for APSU, which is currently the state's fastest-growing university and will have achieved national attention on Saturday merely because of playing at Neyland, one of the largest college stadiums in America, against what has traditionally been one of the country's perennial football powerhouses in the Vols.

Austin Peay and Tennessee both enter the new season with new head coaches, so there is still a good bit of mystery in play about where the two football programs currently stand - although there are high hopes in both camps for a strong rebuilding year. The Govs want to rise to much greater respectability in the Ohio Valley Conference, while the Vols have goals of restoring top-tier national rankings and ownership of the Southeastern Conference.

For the Govs, Kirby Cannon was hired as the school's 18th head coach in March. He brings to Clarksville a reputation as a football program builder.

The Alexandria, Mo., native spent three seasons previously as secondary coach at Central Michigan University. Last year at Central Michigan, he was part of a coaching staff that led the Chippewas to victory in the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl in Detroit.

Cannon is an experienced, seasoned collegiate coach who fully understands what he is going to be up against in Knoxville - especially with the endless strains of "Rocky Top" from UT's Pride of the Southland Marching Band, which are likely to be echoing all evening throughout the stadium.

Cannon has been preparing the Govs for it, conducting scrimmages with loud 1970s music blaring from the loudspeakers. "It is going to be loud at Neyland (Saturday)," Cannon recently said. "Our guys have to get used to those type of distractions."

The Vols have their own challenges heading into a new season. After winning a national championship in 1998 and traditionally being one of the most-followed and revered college football teams in the South, if not the nation, Tennessee for the past couple of seasons has failed to even be bowl-eligible, and that's simply unacceptable in "Big Orange" country.

Last December, UT plucked Butch Jones from the University of Cincinnati to become its 24th head coach after a successful stint with the Bearcats.

Jones and Cannon actually have something in common professionally, for Jones was also previously at Central Michigan, as the Chippewas' head coach from 2007-09.

The Vols will clearly be wanting to make a statement Saturday against Austin Peay as they embark on a renewed quest for national respect.

Whatever happens, this is a great weekend for area fans of the Austin Peay Govs and Tennessee Vols. Both schools are already winners with the arrival of a new football season, if not on the field, at least in the growth and respect column, and in the hearts of so many people in this region of the state.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

EDITORIAL: Saturday's Austin Peay-UT game a historic milestone

At 5 p.m.

A link to this page will be included in your message.

Real Deals

Flip, shop and save on specials from your favorite retailers in the Lower Hudson Valley, 10604.